Managers of Soldier Mountain ski area intend to have the resort up and running in time for the beginning of the 2009-10 ski season later this year.
The Fairfield-area ski resort's rustic day lodge was destroyed by fire on March 30, just two days after the mountain closed for the season. Fire officials say the building's wiring was the source of the blaze.
Although long-term plans call for replacing the late 1940s-era lodge with a much larger structure as part of a planned ski area expansion, managers only plan on constructing a slightly larger day lodge for the time being, said Shelly Scott, Hailey-based office manager for Valley Entertainment, which owns Soldier Mountain.
"We're going to rebuild," Scott said Wednesday.
Actor Bruce Willis, a part-time Wood River Valley resident, owns Valley Entertainment Group.
However, due to weather-caused delays that have kept a contractor hired to remove debris from the burned structure from getting to work, the ski area may have to bring in a temporary structure in place of the new lodge at least for part of the coming winter season, Scott said. Recent rain and snow has kept the site too muddy for the work to be completed, she said.
"His equipment will sink," she said.
The original lodge and ski area were established through the efforts of former Fairfield farmer Bob Frostenson and his friend Harry Durall. In the beginning, they installed two rope tows, the first powered by a 1938 Chevrolet engine.
Today, the ski area boasts 1,150 acres of in-bounds terrain and its three lifts give access to a vertical rise of 1,425 feet.
Future expansion plans call for new snowmaking, the addition of up to four new ski lifts, trail clearing and a new day lodge at the base of the mountain. Last October, ski area managers submitted for review an in-depth master plan to the Sawtooth National Forest's Fairfield Ranger District. The plan details the direction in which the managers would like to take Soldier Mountain in the coming decades.
The plan states that a new base lodge will be built once the mountain begins attracting 30,000 visitors each season. According to figures included in the document, 16,061 visitors used the mountain during the 2007-08 season.
The master plan also mentions the possibility of an "on-mountain facility."
But all that will take a back seat to getting the mountain ready for the coming season.
Scott said the ownership group hopes to get at least part of the new lodge constructed before snow begins to fall later this year.
"At least they can get the outside (of the new lodge) buttoned up," she said. "We're really realizing we have a short window for construction."
Nonetheless, the ski area will be open next season, Scott said.
Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com
In this image, taken by Edward Reagan of the Camas Courier just hours after a fire destroyed the Soldier Mountain lodge, rubble is all that remains. Ski area managers hope to have a new day lodge built in time for the coming winter season. Photo by
